Spiritual Leadership in The Pattern of David: Leading God's people, #14

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

David was anything but perfect—lustful as a husband, weak as a father, and partial as a leader—yet he is the only one in all Scripture to be called "a man after God's own heart".

What was it in David that attracted God this much?

After the historic victory with Goliath, the life of this humble shepherd boy seemingly took a downward turn. In all the series of unfortunate circumstances, God was at work, rerouting his life. Starting with a group of riff-raff, this cave dweller became the leader of an exceptional army because God wanted him to become a maverick king:

• In battle, he modeled invincibility.
• In decisions, he sought God's mind for clarity, wisdom, and equity.
• In loneliness, he wrote with transparent vulnerability and quiet trust.
• In friendship, he was loyal to the end.
• In statesmanship, he portrayed integrity and humility.

What an outstanding man! But what is it that distinguished David as one of God's greatest men?

Come along with professor Z.T. Fomum in this down-to-earth book on Spiritual Leadership, for an in-depth study on the making of this poet, musician, courageous warrior, and shepherd of God's people—a man of passion and destiny with a God-dependent life of strength and leadership worth emulating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: Feb 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215793534

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

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PREFACE

The message in this book was delivered to the saints in the church in Yaounde by Professor Zacharias Tanee Fomum in the year 2000. We offer it entirely to the body of Christ with very little editing.

If you are a leader who is determined to make progress, this book is for you.

We send it out with prayer that church leaders and aspiring leaders would find in these pages what it takes to acquire a flock and keep it.

1

GOD'S RAW MATERIALS

Matthew 1:1-6

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Abraham

Isaac

Jacob

Judah

Perez (Tamar)

Hezron

Ram

Amminadab

Nahshon

Salmon

Boaz (Rahab)

Obed (Ruth)

Jesse

David / Solomon

There is a song in Sacred Songs and Solos, Number 16:

Redemption! Oh, wonderful story. Redemption, what a wonderful story.

Redemption! Oh, wonderful story -

Glad message for you and for me:

That Jesus has purchased our pardon,

And paid all the debt on the tree.

Believe it, O sinner, believe it;

Receive the glad message - 'tis true;

Trust now in the crucified Saviour,

Salvation He offers to you.

The last stanza says:

Accept now God's offer of mercy;

To Jesus, oh, hasten today;

For He will receive him that cometh,

And never will turn him away.

As we approach leadership, as we look at David the leader, as we talk about human leaders, I want to tell you, it is all by grace, all by grace. It is mercy, mercy, mercy!

ABRAHAM was chosen. What merit had he? He was an idol-worshipper. God picked out one idol-worshipper and made him the object of abundant revelation. What was Abraham's merit? Zero merit. Now, when you bow down before a piece of wood, is it because you bow down faster than the other people who do same, or because your idol is bigger than that of others? No merit. Oh, he could have been left out! He could have been left out! Left out! He had no merit.

ISAAC – What was his merit? This man who in his old age decided to so love meat that he said, Bring me meat, then I will give you the blessing. He said, I will eat and bless, I will eat and bless. Eat and bless, eat and bless, eat and bless, eat and bless. When a man ties blessing to eating, it is hard to say that he is great. Jacob comes along with the meat. Isaac touched him and said, The voice is like Jacob's but the body is like Esau's. Instead of saying, Hey! People, come, come, come! There is a contradiction here! There’s something not quite right here! He said, Bring the food. His yearning for meat must have been beyond measure. This man was used to eating Esau's meat from his hunting. Two goats were prepared and served and he could not distinguish goat from game which he had been eating all his life. The difference between game and domestic meat is immediately obvious, but not to Isaac. He just ate and blessed.

JACOB – A man who marries one girl on the first day. He is given another in the night of that same day and he only discovers the truth the next day. It takes unusual stupidity. The whole night this man did not talk to his wife, not even one word did he utter!

I just want you to have a glimpse at God's generals. Oh, it is grace, it is grace, it is grace, it is grace, it is grace!

If God has lifted you, it is by grace.

If God has given you some talents, it is by grace.

If God has given you spiritual gifts, it is by grace.

If God has appointed you to leadership, it is by grace.

If God has given you a ministry, it is by grace.

If God has made you responsible, it is by grace.

By grace, by grace, by grace.

There is nothing to boast about. There is nothing to boast about. There is nothing to boast about. Boasting is madness.

JUDAH – This is the one who suggested that they should sell Joseph. And this man Judah, when his wife dies, decides to live an immoral life. He, a patriarch, went somewhere and was attracted to a prostitute, while his brother Joseph was saying, No to adultery. The story is given significance in the Bible. In Genesis Chapter 38, it is Judah and Tamar—a man going into his daughter-in-law; and in Chapter 39, we see his brother running away from Potiphar's wife; two brothers! This Judah of a man saw his daughter-in-law disguised like a prostitute, and he decided that since his wife was dead, he had the right to go to bed with prostitutes; what an immoral man! When he went, the prostitute asked for his staff, his signet ring and his bracelet; three things. She just asked and he gave these without hesitation.

Could a man ever be so stupid? A woman asks for everything. Without thinking, he just gives, just gives, just gives. What did he think he was doing? Afterwards he sent the goat through his friend. The friend could not find the woman. O.K., leave it! Judah said. He did not ask, But what have I lost? And from that sexual immorality, two sons were born.

PEREZ was one of them. Some of us would have said, Perez will never appear anywhere! Never, Never, Never, Never! A man has a son with his daughter-in-law? This child shall be cast away to a mountain. Oh! But Perez is an ancestor of King Jesus! But this child, born out of total immorality, is incorporated by the sovereign grace of God, into the ancestral line of David, of King David, and of David's greater son, the Lord Jesus. But I want you to see the triumph of love and the triumph of grace! The triumph of grace! The triumph of grace! Yes, the triumph of grace! Oh, it is by grace, by grace, by grace!

Greatness in the Kingdom is by grace.

Appointment to leadership is by grace.

Talents are by grace.

Oh, great talents are by grace.

Great spiritual gifts are by grace.

Great ministries are by grace.

Oh, by grace, by grace, by grace.

Oh, the all-inclusive-including love of God; the love that includes those who deserve to be rejected, the love that includes those who do not deserve the slightest place.

We come to BOAZ. His mother was Rahab, the harlot. Boaz had a prostitute for a mother. Rahab, the mother of Boaz.

OBED was born of a foreigner for a mother.

And you come down to DAVID.

And after David, SOLOMON, the child he had with Uriah's wife.

Do you see the story? Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace, grace! Grace, grace! It is by grace! It is by grace! It is by grace! It is not by merit! It is not by merit! By grace! By grace! It is by grace! By the grace of God! By the grace of God! By the grace of God! By the grace of God! Oh, by the grace of God! By the grace of God! By the grace of God! By the grace of God! The most rejected were included by grace! Those who deserved to be excluded were included. Those with the most horrible backgrounds were included. Those who had no place whatsoever by man's judgement, were included. Oh, the triumph of grace! The triumph of grace!

One thing that is troubling is the fact that some people want to deny their genealogy. Hypocrites! They want to deny their genealogy. They will never mention the fact that their mother was a harlot. They will never mention the fact that they were born outside wedlock. If you dare to tell them, You were born outside wedlock, you will become a permanent enemy. They are hiding and running away from truth and also running away from God's grace. They are hiding God's grace instead of magnifying the grace of God. They are pretending. All their life is a lie.

Is your mother a prostitute and you have decided to get her married? And you have decided to give her a husband so that you may look respectable.

Do you hide anything about your genealogy? You are a hypocrite and an opponent of grace! You are an opponent of grace, an opponent of grace! You have blocked God and you are an opponent of grace.

The Bible did not try one bit to hide these stories. Oh, Judah! The kingdom belonged to Judah. The Bible did not try to hide the fact that Judah went into Tamar and produced Perez.

I want you to repent of all your falsehood associated with hiding your genealogy. And if anyone mentions it, you immediately feel attacked. You are fighting with God. You are fighting with God! You have blocked the extent to which the grace of God can work in your life. Your father might have been a chief sorcerer. Or your father was the priest of a certain idol, and you want to hide it all. You are blocked. Your wickedness in hiding it blocks God, blocks the grace of God from flowing. God, in spite of the horror of your genealogy, reached out to you but you are now a hypocrite who wants to hide it all.

In a prayer meeting, a brother stood up and said, My father committed suicide. I immediately promoted him in my heart. Some people will hide it and order machines to hide it. They will do everything to hide it. They will do everything to hide it because they are false! The false try to hide the truth and they are blocked from the grace of God.

See what God does to His generals. He exposes them, and they are not the weaker for having been exposed. The kingdom was not taken from Judah because of this. And Judah did not become smaller because he was exposed.

Transparency exalts a man. But the one who is covering something becomes smaller and smaller until he is too small to be noticed. Transparency promotes; it is power.

Boaz, whose mother was a harlot, was not the smaller for it. Such people who hide their horrible pasts cannot be used as ministers to those with horrible pasts, because the hypocrite has put a limit to God's grace in his life. The hypocrite has placed a limit to the flow of God's grace in his life. A hypocrite is his own enemy.

Because the hypocrite has hidden all that ought to come forth, he has limited the flow of the grace of God through him.

If your mother was a prostitute and the grace of God has come to you, another person whose mother is a prostitute would come to you for ministry. Another one probably shocked and shattered by the fact that his mother was a prostitute, if he saw you flowing in the grace of God, knowing who your own mother was, would come to you to receive ministry. You will therefore, have an expanding ministry. But the hypocrite who hides everything has blocked the expansion of his ministry and blocked the flow of God.

Are you an illegitimate child? How many people know you are an illegitimate child? Have you told the brethren? Oh, in the Old Testament it is said, to the tenth generation, an illegitimate child was not to enter the temple. Oh, but here am I, an illegitimate child, having entered in not only the temple, I am the temple of God. Oh, the grace of God has triumphed! So, you are now a defender of your criminal family. Anybody who talks about your family becomes your enemy. You have missed it completely. Oh, God chose Solomon even though an offspring of Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. Solomon did not deny his mother, saying, Anyone who says that I am Bathsheba's son shall be shot. Bathsheba became queen mother when Solomon became king.

Listen, the pretence of the hypocrite blocks the magnitude of God's grace available to them. People then cannot see how stupendous the grace of God, what the might of the grace of God has worked in their lives. Hiding and hiding and hiding!

Oh, I went somewhere on Planet Earth where there was a famous pastor. The young woman he chose to be his secretary had known 180 men in her past life. He ministered to her, brought her to the salvation of God, brought her to health in Christ, brought her to the joy of salvation and made her a close co-worker.

Hallelujah to the Lamb who died on Mount Calvary,

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Amen!

Oh, the triumph of the grace of God!

Oh, the triumph of the grace of God!

Oh, the power of the grace of God!

Oh, the transparency of the grace of God!

Oh, the transparency of the grace of God!

Oh, the transparency of the grace of God!

Oh, the limitations caused by hypocrisy and pretence and falsehood and deceit!

Some people work at their marriage but it doesn't work. Why? The man has hidden everything about his past, or the wife has hidden everything. How can a man love an unknown entity?

I was preaching in a Church in the U.S., I was talking with the pastor's wife. She said to me, Zach, do you know that I was a prostitute? God saved me and picked me out of prostitution and gave me a man who had known no woman. Then we went to a rally to preach the Gospel. She said, I was a prostitute. She gave her testimony. I became pregnant. And she just continued telling and telling her story. And then she began to sing God's grace. The message went very deep.

When crooks pretend that they are virgins, when people from backgrounds that are horrible pass for daughters and sons of angels, they cannot go far with God. They cannot build deep roots with God. They eventually just backslide because the seed cannot develop deep roots in a hypocritical heart. You specialise in hiding what should be exposed. That's why you have backslid. That's why you are backsliding.

The next time I went to the U.S., I was in that Church again. The woman said, Zach, our daughter has had a child, an illegitimate child. She was just opening up their family. That is the woman who had told me that she had been a prostitute before. And the grace of God was on this woman; the anointing of God was on this woman. This did not only demonstrate the magnitude of grace but the Holy Spirit was upon her.

The Holy Spirit cannot rest on hypocrites!

The Holy Spirit cannot come upon hypocrites!

She had nothing to boast about in her own life, about her daughter—pastor's daughter, pregnant. She had nothing to boast about. Therefore, the grace of God could fully dwell upon her and the power of God was flowing without limit. When she stood in Colombia in South America to give her testimony to hardened criminals, they were all quiet! They were all quiet! The grace of God flowing through this transparent woman! The grace of God flowing through this transparent woman captured these people and silenced them. And when she gave the invitation, they rushed after Jesus to touch that same Saviour.

Those who hide everything and pretend to have archangels for parents and angels for children, no one can intercede for them deeply. They must just continue to fail. How can you intercede without knowledge? How can you begin to wrestle to break down the curses that are following a person because of his past life when things about his life have not been exposed? If you marry a man whose father was a chief sorcerer, or suppose your wife's grandfather was a sorcerer or a representative of Satan, how will you intercede when all is hidden? How will you intercede? So, the curses will continue because the hypocrite has not presented the whole story so that an intercessor or intercessors can step into the situation and save the situation by violent praying.

Transparency is power.

Transparency is a door to blessing.

Total opening up leads to total union.

Look at the people who hide everything. They do not have any deep relationship. They have many butterfly relationships. No one can get deep with someone who is a profound mystery. The lie of the Enemy says if indeed you let yourself be known, you'll be rejected. That's the Devil's lie. The reality is that intimacy is built on knowledge.

You are only intimate to the one who has opened up totally.

Those who hide their past, hide all that should be known, saying they have forgotten, will not build intimate relationships. The lie of the devil says, Hide so that you are accepted. As you hide so do you create a distance, and the little good thing that was there will be blown away.

But as there is opening up, even when that which is horrible comes up, a deep bonding and deep blending will result.

It is not possible to reject the one who opens the coffin of his life. When such opening happens, you are arrested, you cannot but love. You can only become a minister. It is impossible to walk away.

There is nobody close to me whom I do not know. With deep opening there has been deep bonding.

May the saints see that this is God's way of working and the opposite is the Devil's way of working.

The Devil hides everything and hides everything and hides everything, and destroys all.

God exposes all, exposes all, and heals all, and heals all, and heals all.

There's a sense in which a man's leadership is directly proportional to his transparency.

Zero transparency, zero leadership. Little transparency, little leadership. Great transparency, great leadership. The one who hides everything cannot grow in leadership.

In the New Testament, Paul is the one who opens up more than anybody else. He is also the one most followed. A leader is to be followed. How can they follow the unknown? Paul says, "Be imitators of me." And people who wanted to imitate him knew what to imitate.

Look at Jesus Christ. Even in Gethsemane, when He wanted the cup to pass away, He opened up. He even opened up His deep temptations. He opened up! He opened up!

Who knows you?

The leaders who hide, who have hidden everything, should repent. They are frustrating the purposes of God. They are blocking the art of making leaders. They are confusing the people because the people do not know what to follow.

The way to a man's heart is to open up your own heart to him.

If leaders do not open up their hearts to the people, how will the people open up their hearts to them? If a leader does zero opening up, how will the people open up to him? The way to the heart of a person is to open up your own heart to them.

Say, I will open up—my strengths, my weaknesses, my successes, my failures, the strengths in my ancestry and the weaknesses in my ancestry. I will open up, I will open up. I will be a hypocrite no more. I will block the purposes of God no more.

We declare that we are a community of transparent people; henceforth we shall be a community of transparent people; the days of falsehood and pretence have ended; light has shone into the darkness.

Oh, our great God, the Lord, did not hide the fact that one of the twelve was a traitor saying, Oh, if I say it then they will say that I made a mistake.

A brother once said they have hidden all their quarrels in the room so that their children have never known that they disagreed on anything. What tragic parents! What tragic parents! What hypocrites! What dangerous parents! But you cannot fool children. They will know. But they will know that you are hypocrites! And they will be ashamed of you. Pretending! Children have four eyes! Listen, bring the quarrels before the children so that when they will have their own quarrels, they will not hide them but will seek solutions. If you are parents who produce hypocrites, Oh, it is a tragedy! Anybody who thinks that they can tell the children, This is a wonderful pair who have never disagreed on anything; all has been one unending honeymoon, that's the hypocrite! That's the hypocrite! That's hypocrisy and that's how to bring up children who must fail. They will be ill-prepared for everything because they will have their misunderstandings, they will have their disagreements, and they will have their quarrels. They will have, they will have, they will have, even in the best of marriages. Such hypocrites are likely to produce children who, if they have a quarrel with their partner, will say, No, this is not a good marriage. Let's drop it. Let's just end it. Let's give it up because our parents never quarrelled. No! Let them know that you had problems and you solved them and continued together! Oh, hypocrisy. Oh, the hypocrite. Oh, the hypocrite. Whom are you deceiving? Children are sharp; children are wise. The two people are only deceiving themselves; they cannot deceive the children.

There was a couple that got married and said they would not share their problems with anyone else. Then they went to the Mission Field and the man went on a fast and fell ill. Then the Church was told that the Pastor had gone on a retreat. So, his wife had to write messages for him to read. So, he would read messages, and she will help him ... just like when somebody is reciting from memory and misses something, you say something to help him remember. So, when I went there, they said the problem started when the Pastor went on a retreat, on a long retreat. Nobody could talk to him, he could not see anybody. And God's healing was blocked for years because God cannot participate in such falsehood. I told the people, No, these people are lying. The Pastor fell sick after a fast. He didn't go on retreat. If his wife had said, No, the Pastor collapsed at the end of the fast, and all these people gathered and called upon the Lord, the Lord would have broken forth from heaven to heal their pastor.

Hypocrisy can never, never help to advance the gospel. It can only hinder the gospel. It can only hinder advancement. It can only hinder the truth. It can only ruin. It can only destroy.

Watchman Nee went somewhere and he was so dry spiritually. It was a small assembly he had started some time ago. So, he had to kneel down, and these young believers laid their hands on him for spiritual power to come upon him. And the Holy Spirit came upon him.

Stop fooling the people. Stop fooling believers. Truth wins. Truth overcomes.

The Apostle John says in 1 John 1:7,

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we walk in the light, if we walk in the light.

Someone used his wife as an example. Then she became very angry, Why do you use me as the example? He said, But you are the best example I know. You are the best example that I know.

Oh, the pride that wants people to only say, You are wonderful! We must be known! We must be known! We must be known! We must be known in our strengths and in our weaknesses. We must be known! We must be known in our strengths and in our weaknesses.

There are girls who get married and pretend to be virgins in order to deceive their husbands. These are just crooks. Tell the man the truth. There's some level of fulfilment that will not be entered into until there is transparency between the two people. Tell him the truth! Tell him the truth! If he wants to run away, let him run away. Tell her the truth! Tell her the truth! There are some horrible crooks. It is after the engagement that the girl is told, I had two children here; I had another one there. Crooks will not open up! Crooks will not open up! Crooks will not open up! And the grace of God will not rest upon them! And the grace of God will not rest upon them! And the grace of God will not rest upon them!

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

As we walk in the light the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from the sin that is confessed and from all sin that is committed unknowingly.

The transparent enter into ever-increasing degrees of sanctification.

The transparent enter into ever increasing degrees of sanctification. People who open up to others know ever-increasing degrees of deliverance.

The transparent rise higher and higher. The opaque sink.

Do you know people? They have been around you for years but you do not know anything about them. You can only say, These people are a profound mystery.

Some people think that if they can succeed in hiding everything, they will appear great. They are great failures.

The other day in Ivory Coast, someone of about 45 years said he had never told anybody, "I